Initiatives are largely being churned out without proper review and the strategy could backfire. David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former official at the Federal Trade Commission, told Politico. “A government by edict is not a sustainable idea.”

The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with Donald Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks.nytimes.com(See also Rex Tillerson, Department of State, Trump Cabinet)

A transition plan would install Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, as secretary of state, and tap Senator Tom Cotton to lead the spy agency.

2017.12.04

The Trump Administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince (Betsy DeVos' brother) and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, as a means of countering “deep state” enemies.theintercept.com(See also Unprecedented Actions, Assaults on Civil Liberties)

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration's political agenda.

2018.01.29

Mike Pompeo said there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US, and that the director of the CIA expects that Russia will target the US mid-term elections later this year.bbc.com(See also Russian Meddling in Election, Russia)